These magnetic properties are inextricably linked to the grain size and crystallographic texture of the material. High quality NO electrical steel provides good magnetic properties, especially easy magnetization and low magnetic losses.

Their overall efficiency and performance depend strongly on the quality of the NO electrical steel. Non-oriented (NO) electrical steel is widely used to make stators and rotors of electric machines like generators and motors. These promising results on a laboratory scale can be regarded as an effective way to control the processing on an industrial scale, to finally tailor the magnetic properties of non-oriented electrical steel according to their final application. It was found that furnace cooling after the last hot rolling pass led to a fully recrystallized grain structure with the favorable ND-rotated-cube component, and a large portion of this component was retained in the thin strip after cold rolling, resulting in a texture with a low γ-fiber and a high ND-cube component after final annealing at moderate to high temperatures. Through a comprehensive analysis of the process chain, the influence of important process parameters on the grain size and texture evolution as well as the magnetic properties was determined.

Therefore, the complete process chain of a non-oriented electrical steel with 3.2 wt.-% Si was studied with regard to hot rolling, cold rolling, and final annealing on laboratory scale. How to control the evolution of grain size and texture through processing in order to improve the magnetic properties is the research focus of this article.

The magnetic properties of non-oriented electrical steel, widely used in electric machines, are closely related to the grain size and texture of the material.

Free unity materials and textures